


Start Over

by DreamyHope



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-23
Updated: 2015-05-09
Packaged: 2018-01-26 06:46:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1678634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamyHope/pseuds/DreamyHope
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Skye has a baby and Ward doesn't like the baby.<br/>(obviously AU ;o) )</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I can't tell you much about the story as I don't want to spoil it. I didn't want to write it so long but I wrote 9 pages already. I guess it's a half of the story so it will have at least 4 chapters.
> 
> It's AU. I didn't want to write any more AoS ff but I couldn't help myself.
> 
> It could be sequel to my other stories (Hide your feelings, Believe and The Mission) but it's up to you.
> 
> There are probably (most likely!) mistakes in this story so feel free to let me know about them. ;o)

Skye took a deep breath before she entered the Bus. She was away just for a weekend but to her it seemed longer, so many things changed. She wasn’t sure how she would handle everything but she had to at least try. She looked down on a bundle in her arms and smiled a little bit.

She went through a cargo hold and peeked into the lab because she knew it would be easier explaining everything to Jemma first. She could give her an advice how to tell Coulson but Skye wasn’t that lucky. With another deep breath she climbed up the stairs. Skye heard voices from the lounge area. “Ok, baby girl, we will handle this,” she whispered to the sleeping baby.

“Hi,” she said as she walked into the room.

“Skye!” Simmons squeaked, get up of the sofa where she was chatting with Fitz and ran to her. She wanted to hug her but spotted the baby. Jemma froze. “What is it?”

Skye smiled, she couldn’t help herself. “It’s a baby, Jemma.”

“Baby?” Fitz repeated as he came closer to the girls. “You don’t have a baby.”

She rolled her eyes. “I do now,” she answered with a sigh. She looked at Coulson who was frowning.

“Could you explain that?” Their boss asked.

“Lilly is my friend’s daughter. She is...,” Skye shook her head, “she was my best friend. We grew up together in the orphanage. Nobody wanted us. We knew that when we will come back from another foster family we will always meet in St. Agnes. But I know that it’s not what you want to know,” she assured them. “Claire got pregnant by some guy who left her when she told him they are going to have a baby. She was four months pregnant when they found out she’s got a cancer. She had to decide if she wants to keep the baby or not. Well, there wasn’t much to decide. She always wanted children. She was caring, she loved them, she was so happy.” Skye stopped talking. It took a few minutes until she could continue as memories came back to her. “She started a treatment after Lilly was born but it was too late. She died yesterday afternoon just a few hours after I arrived to the hospital. I had to promise her I will take care of her little girl. I’m sorry AC. I know it’s not ideal but I can’t let Lilly go to the orphanage. I can’t keep her either I know that but I want to find her a loving home. I will understand if you don’t want me here and I will go away and find us some place where we could stay. I just had to come and see you at least for the last time. I didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye.”

“Oh, don’t be silly!” Jemma said. “You’re not going anywhere!” She stopped as she looked at Coulson. “Is she, Sir?”

He shook his head. “No, she’s not,” he assured them.

“Thanks,” Skye smiled. It was just a small victory but at least she didn’t have to raise a child as a homeless person.

“Wait!” Ward called out. It was the first time he spoke since she entered the lounge area until now he just stared at her. “Baby on the Bus? Seriously, Sir? I think we’ve got enough trouble without the child on board! What about the missions? Who will look after that when all of us will be in the field?”

“It’s not that! And she’s got a name, Ward,” Skye snapped.

He made a face. “I don’t care about its' name. How do you want to continue with your training when you will have to take care of the baby? Do you even know how to take care of it?”

Skye’s face turned into stone. She made a few steps in his direction. “Her name is Lilly. You might be surprised now but yes, I know how to take care of a baby! Who do you think looked after her since her mum died? She’s two weeks old so she couldn’t take care of herself like you or I did!”

“She’s staying, Agent Ward,” Coulson made a decision. “I want to have a private talk with you right now!” He set off to his office. Grant gave her last annoyed look before he followed his boss.

***

“What is your problem, agent Ward?” asked Coulson as he sat to his chair behind the table in his office.

Ward raised his eyebrows. “My problem, Sir?” He pretended he’s confused because it was much easier than admit anything.

Older man gave him a sharp look. “I know you know what I mean so just skip that part and tell me what your problem is. Why don’t you want that baby here?”

Grant sighed. “I just don’t think it’s safe.” He shrugged.

Now Coulson was the one who was really confused. “I don’t understand.”

There was another sigh. “They could use it as a weapon against us.”

“Who? Skye and who?”

Ward shook his head impatiently. “I don’t mean Skye. That little girl could be used against her too because Skye really cares about her. She looks like she cares about her more than anything. That baby probably means a world to her. But it’s bad because everybody who will go after us will take advantage of that! They could try to kidnap the baby or hurt her.”

Coulson pressed his lips together. He knew Ward could be right but he couldn’t send Skye away; he knew that her only home was this plane. “I get it now but I don’t think it will be a problem. Actually Lilly could help us with our next mission,” he said and his eyes widened.

Grant frowned. “What mission, Sir?” he questioned but he didn’t get any answer because his boss was already on his way out of the office. He followed him and frowned more if it was even possible.

Coulson stopped in the lounge area where the rest of the team still was. “I’ve got a new mission for us!” he announced cheerfully.

FitzSimmons exchanged a confused look, May’s expression didn’t change and Skye seemed to be fully focused at the little girl in her arms.

“What mission, Sir?” Ward repeated his question, disappointed by not much enthusiasm from the team.

Coulson told them about a married couple with a two-year-old boy – which seemed as a very important information – currently living in London. He said that S.H.I.E.L.D. is watching over them because of the unknown superpowers. He told them about the Programme Pegasus which was about to give them those superpowers. There were no signs of them – until now. In their neighbourhood happened many suspicious things lately which made S.H.I.E.L.D. worried so they wanted somebody to befriend that couple, gain their trust and figure out what was happening.

“As there aren’t many children in that area I would like to send Lilly too,” ended Coulson his explaining.

Skye looked up. “You want me on that mission?” she asked, surprisingly. She didn’t want to go on a mission. She wanted to be with her little girl and remember her late friend. She wanted to grief at least for a few days.

“It doesn’t have to be you. If you want to Simmons can go undercover.”

She shook her head. “I can’t just hand in Lilly to anybody yet. I’m sorry, Jemma.” She looked at the biochemist.

Simmons smiled. “It’s okay. I really don’t want to go. I will happily stay in the lab.” She assured her.

“Ok then, Skye will go with...,” Coulson looked around questioningly.

Fitz looked like that he’s going to cry if his boss would say he has to go. He really didn’t want to. He wanted to stay with Jemma in the lab because it was the only place where he was happy. He didn’t like the missions. It wasn’t safe. He still remembered South Ossetia and it wasn’t a very good memory. Well, not every mission was like that one but none of them were really safe or without trouble and he experienced too many troubles for his taste.

“I’ll go,” said Ward and rolled his eyes as he looked at Fitz.

Skye raised her eyebrows at him. She was really surprised he wanted to go on that mission because he was avoiding her and it didn’t seem like he likes Lilly. “Are you sure?” she asked. “You know that Lilly is going to be there all the time, right?” She didn’t want to question his decision but she didn’t want him to regret it.

He sighed, giving her one of his looks. “Of course, I know that. She's a quite important asset for this mission, don’t you think?”

She made a face. “You don’t have to be offensive. I just don’t get it! Why do you want to be there when you don’t even like her?”

He pressed his lips together. He should have seen that coming. He should have known she would have realized that and she would want her answers but he wasn’t ready to give them to her yet so he improvised. “Because you need a protection and I don’t think Fitz can effectively protect you.” He turned at the younger man. “No offence.”

“None taken,” he assured.

Coulson smiled for a bit. He knew Ward would want this mission if Skye would be involved. “Skye and Agent Ward it is then.”

“When do we start, Sir?” the specialist asked.

“Tomorrow morning,” he answered. “You will need to read those,” he handed them files with all the information they would need.

“Thanks, AC,” nodded Skye and took the file. She was going to read it later in her bunk when Lilly would be sleeping and nobody would have any more questions.

***

“She’s hungry, Ward!“ explained Skye and tried to pull herself from his arms.

“I don’t care! You’ve got training! You agreed with it!” pointed out Grant.

She sighed. “It’s not my fault that Lilly wants to eat!”

He narrowed his eyes. “Simmons!” he yelled.

“Why are you calling Jemma?” Skye was confused and she forgot about the crying girl only few steps from her for a little moment.

“Do you need something, Ward?” biochemist asked as she looked out of the lab. Her expression clearly said she’s not very pleased by all his yelling.

“Yes! I need you to feed the baby and take care of her until we're finished with our training.”

Jemma frowned. “Didn’t you forget something?”

“What?” he asked impatiently.

“First I could be busy. Second when you want a help from somebody you are not just yelling! I’m a human being not a robot!” she snapped.

Skye chuckled and Ward’s arms around her body tightened.

“Could you feed the baby and look after her for a little while?” he asked. “Please,” he added when Jemma lifted her eyebrows.

“Of course I could,” she smiled and walked to them.

“I don’t want her to! I can take care of Lilly!” Skye tried to resist. She didn’t like the idea of being without Lilly for more than a few minutes and she was sure Ward would want to train for at least another half an hour.

“No, you can’t!” he snapped. “You need to train!”

“I hate you, Ward,” she whispered as she watched Jemma taking Lilly into her arms.

“Don’t worry, Skye. She’s safe with me,” she assured her friend.

“That's not it. It’s just,” she shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. I will come as soon as possible.”

“I know you will,” smiled Simmons. She would have to be blind if she wouldn’t see how much the young agent cares about that little girl. She walked back to the lab, cuddling Lilly.

For next twenty minutes Skye and Grant couldn’t hear a single sob. But when they were just about to finish in five minutes loud and heartbreaking crying reached their ears. Skye froze in the middle of her move so Ward knocked her out.

“Damn it, Skye! You need to focus!” he frowned.

“I can’t! Lilly’s crying! I have to see her,” she snapped, stood up and rushed to the lab.

“You will do twenty push ups for every minute away!” he yelled after her.

“Yeah. Sure.”

Ward stayed on the same place and didn’t really understand what just happened. Did she just agree to do it later because of that little evil in the lab? What the hell happened with his Rookie? He sighed and went to the lab as well. He could see Skye with the calmed baby against her shoulder.

“You will not believe that, Ward! Lilly stopped crying at the moment Skye appeared! She didn’t want to stop since Jemma fed her and then Skye came in and she’s calm. She looks like she’ll sleep at any minute now,” explained Fitz excitedly.

“Amazing,” sneered Ward.

After two more minutes Lilly started to breath regularly. “She’s sleeping,” said Skye. “We can go back to our training.” She looked at her SO.

He checked his watch. “Seven and a half minutes, Skye.”

“Yeah, I know. One hundred and fifty push ups, I heard you, don’t worry,” she assured him before walking back to the cargo hold. She put the baby girl in the sleeping basket and went to do those push ups.

Grant was surprised she did it without at least trying to avoid it. He blamed the baby.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye, Ward and Lilly moved to the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are probably (most likely!) mistakes in this story so feel free to let me know about them. ;o)

The following morning Ward, Skye and Lilly moved in a nice house with four bedrooms (neither of them understood why there were so many rooms), a gym (Skye could see sparkles in Grant’s eyes when he saw it), a swimming pool and a big garden.

Skye stood in the doorway to the main bedroom with sleeping Lilly in her arms and sighed. She didn’t want to do that. She knew for sure she’s going to fail. Everybody thought that it’s because of Claire and Lilly and everything that happened lately but the truth was she didn’t want to do it because of Grant. Almost nothing was like before HYDRA. Yes, she still had feelings for him and she still hoped they could be something more than just SO and a rookie but he didn’t even look at her properly, much less touched her when he doesn’t have to or kiss her. Skye turned and shoved into Ward. “You can have this bedroom,” she jerked her head. “I will sleep in Lilly’s bedroom.”

She wanted to go past him but he caught hold of her arm, cold expression on his face. “Everybody has to believe we are married so you’ll sleep in the same bedroom as me,” he insisted.

Skye stared at him in disbelief then she shook her head. “You can’t be serious! It’s just us in this house; we don’t have to play anything! You can happily stay in the gym all the time and I’ll be with this little angel,” she smiled lovingly as she looked down at the baby.

“You might think nobody can see us but you can be wrong! In the end this is a deep undercover mission so we have to live our undercover!”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she answered sarcastically. “I forgot that deep undercover missions are your specialities!” she snapped. She didn’t plan that at all but she was angry and tired and sad so it just slipped out.

It looked like his face turned into stone. “Yes, they are. And I’m really good in it so you’ll listen to me,” he said coldly. “If not I’m going to call Coulson, he will send Simmons and you will have to be without Lilly.” It was the first time he called the little girl by her name.

She gritted her teeth and snapped: “I can’t believe you’re doing this! I hate you, Ward.”

“Yeah, I know. I've heard you yesterday and I don’t really care, you know?” Except he did care. He didn’t want her to hate him but he needed her there so he was going to threaten her if it was the only way to make her stay.

She wasn’t sure what he’s up to but she knew that if she would still fight with him it won’t be good for anybody. “Fine, I’ll sleep here,” she sighed.

“Did it hurt?” he asked sarcastically.

Skye just rolled her eyes and went to Lilly’s bedroom right next to theirs.

***

It was a warm and sunny early morning and Skye sat in the chair in the garden with a cup of coffee in her hands. Their first night in the house was over and she didn’t sleep much. She worried that she would toss and it would lead to waking up next to Ward. So she didn’t allow herself to sleep for longer than half an hour. And she knew for sure that _her husband_ didn’t sleep either. He lay down without moving for hours. He got up around five o’clock when he thought she’s finally fast asleep and went to the gym. He was still there after almost three hours.

Skye sighed. It looked like Lilly was the only one who slept last night. She had to get up to her only few times. She didn’t bother asking Ward for his help. She was sure he wouldn’t do that. He didn’t even look at Lilly for the whole time. Skye knew Lilly means nothing to him but she wished he would at least try.

With another sigh escaping her lips she sipped her coffee.

“It’s nice morning, isn’t it?” voice from behind her said.

She didn’t look at him and asked: “What are you doing here? I thought you’ll be in the gym until lunch.” It wasn’t fair to him and she knew it but she couldn’t help herself. He ignored her or her wishes. Yesterday afternoon she asked him to go for a walk with her and Lilly and he just gave her _are you kidding look_ and went to the swimming pool. She was tempted to tell him it was his bright idea to behave as a married couple all the time but then she just shook her head and went out of the door with Lilly in the pushchair. It was the moment when everything went more wrong.

“Skye,” sighed Grant and sat down on the chair next to hers. She could smell his shower gel and her body reacted.

“What?” She was rude, she was aware of it and she didn’t care because he did the same thing to her yesterday.

“We need to talk. We need some rules. We can’t live like this. It’s barely twenty four hours of the mission and we already hate each other.”

Skye would like to say she doesn’t hate him but she couldn’t. “I just asked you to come with us for a walk. If we have to be seen as a married couple with a newborn baby then I can’t do everything alone! I didn’t ask you to take care of Lilly or push the pushchair. I only asked for a walk! I didn’t even expect you will be smiling or chatting! I would never want more than I asked you for. Could you understand that?” she said with her eyes on the grass in front of them.

Both of them were quite for a few minutes. Ward took a breath as he wanted to answer her but Lilly was awake and she let them know through the baby monitor on the table. Skye sighed unhappily, stood up and went to the house. He could hear her talking to the baby and his heart raced. He loved her voice, her laugh, the way she talked to her late friend’s daughter; he even loved the way she talked to him when she was upset with him. He rubbed his forehead. It was complicated and he was asking for troubles but he couldn’t help himself. She was always his light at the end of the tunnel and he needed her.

***

Skye put the baby to the pushchair, put her sunglasses on and was just about to leave when she heard Ward from the upstairs: “Wait for me!” he ordered.

She raised her eyebrows at the little girl, surprisingly. Skye didn’t like the tone of his voice but she was curious what he was up to so she waited. A few moments later he appeared on the top of the stairs. Skye turned around. “Where are you going?” she asked.

Grant was dressed in his shorts, T-shirt which didn’t leave any space for imagination, sunglasses and trainers. “I’m coming with you,” he answered simply as it was be the most natural thing.

Skye’s eyes widened. “What?”

He gave her eloquent look. Her reaction didn’t surprise him because his reaction was the same when he found himself getting ready just five minutes ago. “I need to spend more time with my family,” he said and opened the door so she could walk out of the house comfortably.

She shook her head in disbelief. “Why are you doing this? Don’t get me wrong I quite like it but I just want to know why. It didn’t seem that you like the whole idea of this mission.”

He shrugged and locked the door behind them. “Well, I think you were right. We are supposed to be married and happy because we’ve got a newborn baby. I should take my part in this seriously.”

His answer surprised Skye. “She didn’t expect that. She honestly thought he would rebuff her with one of his specialist’s answers. She smiled a little bit. “Thank you.”

He hugged her around her shoulders with one arm and kissed her on the temple. It was a natural gesture and it felt right. He wanted to do more so he moved closer to her and caught the pushchair right next to her hand. When she looked at him he nodded.

Skye looked in his eyes for a few seconds. She was trying to figure out what is going on. She was worried that he’s just playing some sort of game with her. But when she didn’t find anything suspicious in his expression she let the pushchair go. _There’s nothing to worry about,_ she told herself. _I’m going to be right next to them all the time._

“Where are we heading?” he asked as they walked further from their house.

“Well, there should be a playground nearby,” she shrugged.

“Is Lilly old enough for the playgrounds?” frowned Ward.

Skye chuckled. “Of course she’s not. But do you know where else find parents and their kids?”

He didn’t answer her question. It didn’t seem that she expected the answer anyway. “What are we going to do if they’re not there?” he asked instead.

She shrugged carefree. “It doesn’t matter. We don’t have to find them the first day.”

“Well, it’s second day technically and it would make things easier if we would find them today,” he pointed out.

Skye pressed her lips together and her only answer was simple: “Wow.”

Grant turned to her. “What?” he asked curiously.

She shook her head. “For a few minutes I believed that it’s not all about the mission. But you just don’t let me forget that it is, do you? You are unbelievable, Grant Ward! Seriously!” She made a face. She was upset and she wanted to make sure he would know that.

“What do you want from me, Skye? We don’t have a time for this! This is a job! We can’t be personally involved in it! You keep forgetting that!” he whispered as he wasn’t sure if somebody was around.

She clenched her teeth. “AC made this personal when he put Lilly on this mission! It’s not my fault!”

“You shouldn’t bring her on the plane in the first place!” He snapped angrily. He regretted his words in the moment when he saw tears in Skye’s eyes.

“This isn’t fair. She deserves better than me or her mother,” she said softly.

Grant sighed. He knew it wasn’t fair but he was upset and he wasn’t sure why exactly. “I’m sorry, Skye. It just slipped out,” he apologized.

“Yeah, I know. It always slips out,” she assured him sarcastically. “I think you shouldn’t come with us next time,” she said and turned away from him. She couldn’t look at him right now.

There was another sight and an unspoken promise that she would never have tears in her eyes because of him again.

***

Two weeks of avoiding each other passed. Skye didn’t talk to him if it wasn’t necessary. She didn’t stay in the same room as him for long – except their bedroom because he showed her very clearly what would happen if she would sleep in a different room than him. She didn’t want him near Lilly and she told him that very clearly. But the problem was that he wanted to be near both of them. He was aware of that he acted like a jerk and he wanted to undo but he wasn’t sure if it was even possible.

Skye entered the bedroom, unhappy expression on her face.

“What’s wrong?” asked Ward.

She sighed as she shook her head. “Lilly was sick,” she explained.

“Is she ok?” he asked concerned.

Skye shrugged. “I hope so. She’s asleep but I’m not sure for how long. And I need a shower,” she whispered as she opened the wardrobe.

Grant knew this was his chance. He could show her he wasn’t focused only on the mission. He took a deep breath. “Go get the shower,” he said. “I will take care of Lilly if she’ll wake up.”

Skye turned to him with her eyebrows raised, clearly surprised. “Are you sure?”

“Positive,” he smiled.

“Ok then,” she smiled back. “Thanks.”

“You could have a bath,” he suggested.

Skye looked puzzled. It was very tempting. She would love to have a long hot bath but she didn’t want to give Ward another reason for an argument. She didn’t want to fight with him at all but she knew for sure they would. Because they would always find a reason for a fight. She sighed. “I couldn’t.”

Grant frowned. “Of course you could. You deserve it.”

“But I would stay in the bath for at least half an hour and I don’t think that Lilly is going to sleep for that long,” she made a face.

He stood up from the bed where he was sitting, came to her and laid his hands on her shoulders. “I said I’ll take care of Lilly. You go, get a bath and relax.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Do you even know how to take care of a baby?” she intentionally asked him the same question he used that day she showed up on the Bus with Lilly in her arms.

It was Ward who made the face now. “Of course I do. He knew how you should take care of the babies but he’d never done it before. Well, Skye didn’t need to know that.

“I find it hard to believe,” she said but turned and walked to the bathroom.

She used Ward’s suggestion and had a bath. She could almost feel how all her concerns were trailing away. She knew it wasn’t for long but for now it was nice not to worry about anything and she was enjoying that moment.

When the water started to be cold, Skye sighed. She didn’t want to get out of the bath but when she checked the time her eyes widened. She was there for almost an hour. She rushed out of the bath tub so quickly that she almost hurt herself. “Damn it!” she swore and grabbed bathrobe hanging on the door. “I’m so-,” she paused in surprise above the picture in front of her. Ward laid on their bed, sleeping and next to him slept Lilly. Ward’s arm was lying protectively over the baby’s tiny body. Skye pulled her phone out of the pocket and took a picture. She wanted to keep this memory because they both looked so peaceful and cute together that it was worth it. Of course he would go mad if he would ever see that picture.

She smiled and get back to the bathroom so she could get dressed her pyjamas. When she got back to the bedroom the only change was that Lilly was lying closer to Grant. Skye went across the room and tried to take the baby away from him. But when she touched the girl’s little body Lilly started to sob and Grant woke up. He looked at the baby and then at Skye. “What are you doing?” he asked confusedly.

“I just want to put Lilly in her crib. Why is she even here?” she wanted to know.

Ward stroked Lilly’s hair. “She was crying so I picked her up and when I tried to put her back in the crib she started to cry again.” He shrugged. “Then I realized I have to take her with me and we just fell asleep.”

She nodded. “I get it. So we just wait until she’s sleeping again and then we put her in the crib?” she asked with her eyebrows raised. She was surprised that he picked Lilly up in the first place.

He looked thoughtfully. “That’s one option,” he admitted.

“You have any other option?”

“She could sleep here with us,” he said carefree.

“Are you serious?” Skye didn’t expect this. She saw that he changed; he didn’t talk about Lilly as _it_ and he suggested he would look after her while she was in the bath but now he actually looked like he cared about her.

“Of course I’m,” he assured her.

She shook her head in disbelief. She was happy for Lilly but she was confused as well. Something happened and she wasn’t sure what that was; she wasn’t even sure if it was good or bad. “Ok. If you want her to I don’t mind.”

He smiled up at Skye and then looked down, smiled at the little girl and tickled her tummy.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some daddy Ward. =o)

Coulson called Ward very early that day back to the plane for few hours; Skye stayed home with Lilly. Ward suggested they could come with him to see everybody (Skye missed FitzSimmons as well as the rest of the team) but she was too tired because Lilly didn’t sleep well that night and even when they had turns at taking care of her it was exhausting.

Around ten o’clock in the morning Skye decided she would take Lilly for a walk to the shop because they ran out of some needed supplies and she hoped that a walk would help the little girl sleep as she didn’t sleep at all if somebody didn’t carry her. She blamed Grant and that evening when he brought her to their bed. It looked like he was glued with the baby since that day and it was really interesting to watch how they developed together.

Skye pushed the pushchair between shelves with nappies, baby shampoos, baby oils and other babies’ stuffs when she saw a woman who looked familiar. She frowned a little bit before realizing that the woman is Elaine. She needed to think about a way how to start conversation with her but didn’t have any idea. She started to lose her hope when a little boy with blond curls ran to the pushchair because he didn’t look out. He fell on the floor and started to cry.

Skye squatted down. “Oh, are you okay?” she asked and gently touched his shoulder.

He stopped crying, caught by surprise and looked up at her. He sniffed as he nodded.

“Where are your parents?” she asked as if she didn’t know anything about him at all. She didn’t have much information about the little boy and there was no picture of him in the file but he looked exactly like his father – except the hair, he had his mother’s hair.

He sniffed one more time and then pointed at the direction he ran. Skye could see Elaine coming to them; she looked apologetically. “Neal, you know you can’t run from me like this!” she said and picked the boy up then she looked at Skye. “I’m really sorry! He does that quite often now. I guess he want to explore everything on his own,” she shrugged.

Skye smiled.”Well, he’s a child and it’s probably good thing that he wants to be independent, isn’t it?”

“As long as his mummy doesn’t have a heart attack, then yes.” Blonde haired woman stretched out her hand. “I’m Elaine by the way.”

“Oh,” she squeezed her hand, “I’m Skye.”

“Nice to meet you, Skye. Are you new here? I didn’t see you before.”

She nodded. “Yeah, we moved in just a few weeks ago. But it was quite hectic so I just went for a walk every day but didn’t really see anybody or talk to anybody.”

Elaine smiled and took a breath as she wanted to answer but she was interrupted by Skye’s call.

Young woman looked at the screen and frowned a little. “Sorry, I have to answer this. It’s my husband,” she explained with a smile. “What’s up?” she said to the phone.

“Where are you?” asked Ward coldly. He was worried when he came back from the meeting with Coulson and found an empty house.

Skye was taken aback by his tone. “In the shop.”

“Is Lilly with you?”

“Of course she is! Do you really think I would leave her home on her own?” she whispered angrily and rolled her eyes in the other woman’s direction.

She could hear as he sighed. “I don’t. I’m sorry. I was just worried when I came back and didn’t find any sign of you. Not even a note,” he added with clear reproach in his voice.

Skye rubbed her forehead. She actually didn’t think he could worry about them so much. Also she didn’t expect him back for at least another few hours. Otherwise she would send him a text or leave a note. They were going to talk about it soon. “Well, we’re fine,” she assured him.

“Great,” he answered shortly. “When are you going to be back home? I need to talk to you.”

She smiled at Elaine as she looked at her with question written in her face. “I don’t know Wa-Grant,” she quickly corrected herself as she realized it would seem weird if she called her own husband by his surname. “Probably in an hour?”

“Ok. I’ll be waiting. Be careful!”

“What’s going on?” asked Skye. Something in his voice made her worried.

“I’ll explain you everything when you’re back.”

She made a face. “Fine. See you.”

“Is everything ok?” asked Elaine when Skye put her phone away.

She smiled. “Yeah. He’s just overprotective.” She shrugged.

“Well, he obviously love you both,” the other woman said and smiled at her son in her arms. “Jonah is the same. When he doesn’t know where we are he is going crazy. He’s looking for us everywhere. I guess it’s some sort of men thing.”

“I guess so,” agreed Skye. “I should get moving because if I won’t be home in an hour he’ll go through the roof.” She gave her a meaningful look.

Elaine chuckled. “Well, I'll better get going too. There are playgroups every day in the church. Don’t you want to come by sometimes?” she suggested.

Skye frowned a little. “I don’t know. Lilly is probably too young for playgroups.”

The older woman laughed. “Oh, she is but it doesn’t matter. The first time I went there Neal was just three months old. When you’ve got older child it can play with other kids but you can talk to other mums and just have fun. I’m sure your little one will be fine. There is always somebody who will look after her, don’t worry.” She assured her.

Skye thought about it for a few moments. It could be a good opportunity for her to befriend Elaine, she could get to know her better and she might find out what is going on in their neighbourhood. “Ok then. I’ll come. What time is it?”

Elaine’s face brightened up. “It usually starts at ten but there are some changes sometimes. You know what? Why don’t you give me your email and I will send you the schedule.”

She saw how excited the woman opposite her was – she reminded her of FitzSimmons. Suddenly she realized how much important it is for Elaine to be friends with her. They exchanged their email addresses and phone numbers, said goodbye to each other and went different directions.

***

“You’re late!” said Ward when she opened the door of the house.

Skye sighed and rolled her eyes. She pushed the pushchair inside and closed the door behind her. When she was sure nobody could see or hear them she looked at her phone and spoke: “Three minutes Ward. I’m sorry if you were worried but I did my best.” She convinced herself she should stay calm even when he would look like he was going to kill her for that. It was better than yelling which would lead to threatening. She was quite sure AC wouldn’t send Simmons instead of her now but _her husband_ could find other ways how to make her life unpleasant for her.

He pressed his lips together. “How’s Lilly?” He covered a short distance between him and the pushchair and leaned down. He saw the little girl sleeping so he looked up at her with his eyebrows raised.

She spread her arms. “Geez, she’s fine! Do you think I would be calm if she wouldn’t? What is going on with you, Ward?”

He squirmed and she could see hint of concern on his face but it disappeared as quickly as it appeared so she wasn’t sure if it was ever there. “I just feel responsible for you. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Skye tried to find any sign of a lie in his expression but she wasn’t lucky. It hurt! She desperately wanted to find something; something that would tell her he cared about them; something that would tell her he wouldn’t walk away when they would be back on the Bus; something what she saw in his eyes when he took care of Lilly for the first time. She blinked few times. “Don’t worry about us. We are going to be fine. I can keep her safe,” she assured him.

Grant clenched his fists. He knew what she was looking for but he hid it because he was afraid of everything what he felt right now. He knew he cared about them, he loved them but he also knew he shouldn’t feel it because when Skye would find a family for Lilly she wouldn’t let him in. She would be devastated and she would blame him because he let her to form an attachment with the baby. And he knew for sure he would be devastated as well.

She turned away from him and put the house keys on the cabinet next to the door. “So,” she started, “what did AC want?”

Ward took a breath. “Well, they found a connection between the victims.”

Skye turned back to him, surprise written in her face. “Really? That’s a huge progress. What exactly did they find?”

He sighed. “Every one of the victims knew _our_ couple. It looks like they were killed just few hours after they saw them. But we don’t know _why_ they killed them. Coulson thinks it could be because they were angry. May thinks they were just bored. Fitz thinks that the victims told them something they didn’t like and Trip agrees with him.”

“What does Jemma think?” she whispered the question.

He made the face. “Simmons thinks they could do it because they were jealous. The victims are mostly men but there are two women as well. She thinks the victims must do something which made the couple think they should be jealous so they just kill them.” He shrugged. He didn’t want to tell her this because he knew she would seize on it.

Skye frowned. “Did they assume that nobody else could do it? I mean,” she took a deep breath as she knew he wouldn’t like what she was going to say, “I’ve met Elaine and little Neal in the shop today and you can trust me that she doesn’t look like somebody who could kill in cold blood. Seriously Ward, she is really nice! I don’t think she would _hurt_ anybody much less _kill_ anybody.”

“They all look nice at first sight!” he snapped. His heart tightened with fear. He wasn’t happy about the idea that Skye and Lilly were alone with Elaine. And he was even less happy about the idea that she was trying to defend her. Because it could cause a problem and he knew it.

“Yeah, I know but what if they’ve got some enemies. Anybody could know about Programme Pegasus! They could exploit it because they would figure that everybody would go after them and nobody would suspect it!”

Ward sighed and rubbed his eyes. “I can see your point but,” he shook his head with a sigh, “I don’t think you’re right. I’m sorry Skye but you have to accept the fact that they are responsible for those murders.”

“No, I don’t have to,” she opposed him. “I’m going to prove you that you’re wrong.”

“Well, I can’t wait,” said Ward sarcastically.

Skye rolled her eyes and went to the kitchen. She wasn’t sure if she didn’t slap him if she looked at him for one more moment.

He wanted to follow her but there was a sound of sob so he quickly moved to the pushchair, leaned down and with a broad grin he picked Lilly up. “Hello, baby girl. How are you?” he asked as he walked to see Skye. He found her looking out of the window, her teeth clenched. He frowned when he saw her expression. Once again he was the one who kept hurting her and he didn’t like that idea at all. He wanted to make it up to her and he knew exactly how to do it. “By the way,” he started, “Fitz and Simmons are coming for a weekend.”

It was really amazing to watch how quickly and how much her expression changed. She turned from the window and looked at him, a delight written in her face. “Are you serious?”

Grant nodded. “Yeah, they miss you. And they don’t have any mission now so they’ll come for a few days. They are driving Coulson crazy already so he allowed it.” He chuckled as he remembered earlier that morning when he stepped on the Bus and FitzSimmons plied him with questions about Skye and Lilly. Coulson behind their backs just rolled his eyes.

She smiled and hugged him. She even gave him a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you!”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FitzSimmons came to visit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it took me long time to write this chapter but I wasn't in a writing mood lately.
> 
> Also my original plan with this story changed...for the second time. First I wanted to write one-shot, then I thought about four chapters and now I'm there so I guess I won't make any more promises or plans. :D
> 
> All mistakes are mine and I'm sorry for them.

It was six o’clock in the evening when FitzSimmons arrived. Skye was just about to give Lilly a bath. It has been a long day so Skye decided to put Lilly to the bed earlier as she didn’t expect FitzSimmons for the next few hours. Ward told her the day before they wouldn’t come until eight or nine. She was going to talk to him about it; that’s for sure.

“Hello!” she greeted them cheerfully as she walked from upstairs with the naked baby in her arms.

Simmons jumped about happily when she saw her friend and she ran to her. She hugged them carefully. “Hello, baby girl. Auntie Jemma missed you,” she said with a smile as she pulled away from Skye and stroke Lilly’s cheek.

Skye could see how Ward rolled his eyes and Fitz just shook his head with an amusement written in his face. She shot a glare at them before she smiled at Simmons and the little girl. Jemma seemed to be in her element. She loved her; it was beyond all doubt. “She missed you too.”

“Well, we’ve got a bond, don’t we, little one?” She tickled her foot. “Are you going to bath her?” Jemma asked as she looked up at Skye.

She nodded. “Yes. Lilly’s tired so I thought I would bath her, feed her and put her to the bed early tonight,” she explained.

“Oh, can I help you? Please, Skye, I want to enjoy her!” she pleaded.

Skye blinked. Her friend looked like she was going to cry if she refused. She didn’t know Simmons like that and she was aware that it would be a problem one day; the day when she would have to give up this child and let her go. Skye’s stomach tightened with fear; she didn’t want to think about that day. “Of course you can,” she assured her, her voice full of emotions.

She headed back upstairs, followed by Jemma.

That whole time Fitz watched all of them silently and he realized that something between Ward and Lilly has changed. When Skye appeared just a few minutes ago he watched the baby in her arms closely.

Fitz took a breath as he wanted to say something but Grant probably sensed that, gave him sharp look and spoke: “I’ll show you your bedroom,” he went the same direction as the girls.

The engineer sighed. Ward obviously didn’t want to talk about it and he wasn’t going to force him to that. Fitz knew he would tell him what was going on on his own terms.

***

Half an hour later Skye sat in the rocking chair in Lilly’s bedroom and fed the baby in her arms. Jemma sat on the floor in front of her, her legs crossed, watching her friend with a smile.

“Is everything ok?” the biochemist asked.

Skye looked up, her eyebrows raised. “Yeah. Everything’s fine. Why wouldn’t be?”

Simmons shook her head and pressed her lips together; she looked worried. “You don’t look ok.”

“I don’t?”

She sighed. “You look fine with Lilly but when you came downstairs you didn’t even look at Ward and he watched you very carefully. And every time I mentioned him you changed the subject. So what is going on between the two of you?”  
¨  
Now it was Skye who sighed. She bit her bottom lip and looked aside. “I don’t know. He has changed,” she whispered.

“What do you mean by he has changed?”

The younger woman shrugged. “He wants to be with Lilly. He actually cares about her. He’s overprotective when it comes to her.” She wasn’t happy about it. He probably didn’t realize that but she knew it would be very hard when they would have to let her go. Ward was attached to Lilly and it would complicate things even if she gave up her job with S.H.I.E.L.D. He didn’t have any idea she was thinking about giving up her job but she was practically decided to do it because Lilly meant the world to her. So when it came to the decision to give up the job or the girl, her choice was clear.

Jemma frowned. “What is it?” She could see her friend was worried about something and she could say it wasn’t the specialist.

Skye took a deep breath. “I have to tell you something.” And she did. She told her friend how she felt and how she decided. She trusted Jemma would understand; maybe not immediately but she would eventually.

Simmons listened to her confession carefully, her face clear of emotions. She knew it wouldn’t help if she showed how she felt. She also knew Skye was stubborn and if she made her mind nothing could change it. Even when she was sure there was something – or rather someone – who could change her mind in this case because she saw how Grant behaved around her and the little girl. If he was going to admit his feelings he wouldn’t let either of them go which gave Jemma a hope. “Well,” she started, “I understand all of your reasons and I’m not going to judge you. I mean it would be hypocrite if I did because I’m thinking about giving up my job myself.” Her cheeks turned red. She didn’t tell this to anybody yet and she was afraid of everybody’s reaction.

Skye’s eyes widened. “What?” She squeaked loudly which woke almost sleeping Lilly up. The baby looked at her fearfully. “Sorry, baby girl,” she apologized as she looked down at her and smiled. “Why would you do such a thing?” asked Skye when she looked back at her friend.

Simmons shrugged. “Because of the S.H.I.E.L.D.’s rules about dating and relationships between agents.”

“Who are you dating?” she teased.

The biochemist gave her a look. “Who do you think?”

“Well, I was thinking about Trip,” she shrugged innocently. “There is something about that guy.” She smiled.

“Skye,” she sighed.

“I’m just teasing you. Does it mean that you don’t need two bedrooms?” She blinked conspiratorially.

“You wouldn’t let us sleep in two bedrooms.” Jemma could imagine that if they tried to have two separate rooms Skye would find a way how to frustrate it so at the end they would sleep in the same bedroom.

“Well, that’s true but only because I knew you are going to end up with Fitz! You can’t deny I was right all that time.” Skye smiled triumphantly.

Simmons gave her a defeatist sigh. “If I admit you were right will you just stop grinning?”

The dark-haired woman looked as if she was thinking about it. “Most likely.”

The British rolled her eyes. “Ok, Skye, you were right and I’m really glad about that!” she assured her friend.

***

“Did you see that?” asked Skye exasperatedly as she tried to fasten the seatbelt. An angry sigh escaped her lips. “Asshole!” she snapped when the seatbelt clicked in its place.

Jemma smiled even when she knew it would upset her friend even more. She understood why she was upset but she also knew what the specialist’s intention was.

Skye started the engine and drove off from the house. “I’m going to tell him, Jemms!” she exclaimed firmly.

The biochemist sighed. She was afraid of it. “Are you sure it’s such a good idea?”

She gave her quick look before turning her attention back on the road. “He will find out as soon as this stupid mission is over! So why should I wait?”

“Yeah but it’s still a long way away.”

“Why are you trying to stop me? You saw how he behaved! He didn’t even let me say goodbye to Lilly! He thinks I’m too attached! I know he tries to protect me but it’s not necessary! I’m not staying with S.H.I.E.L.D. if I can’t keep her. I have to tell him! Call me selfish but she’s Claire’s daughter and she was my friend! I would let Lilly go but I can’t. I just can’t,” she whispered and there were tears in her eyes.

Simmons took a breath. “Skye, I think you don’t see what I see,” she objected.

“What should I see?” she asked through clenched teeth.

“Ward is attached to her as well,” she said cagily. She was afraid of her reaction. She knew her friend would complain. The reason was clear; she didn’t trust her SO anymore. She needed to see it with her own eyes.

Skye rolled her eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course he’s not. He never gets attached. It would compromise him.”

Jemma shook her head. “He has changed. You said it yourself. You should talk to him.”

The woman in the driver’s seat sighed. She wouldn’t say it aloud but she knew her friend is right. She could see it every minute in the past few weeks and to be honest it scared her. She didn’t want to see Grant as a loving father; she couldn’t handle that. If she admitted that Ward is loving and kind and caring and not just a robot she would have a big problem then – her feelings would just grow stronger and she couldn’t dare it.

“Skye I’m not saying you should change your mind. I’m just saying you should talk to Ward,“ said Simmons after a few minutes of silence. “It might help you find a way how to keep both, Lilly and,” she paused, “your job.”

Skye drove the car into the free space in the car park in front of the shopping centre. She turned off the engine and only then she looked at her friend, her lips pressed together with displeasure. “Shouldn’t I talk to AC than? You know it’s more possible that AC would help me to find a way how to keep both as he’s the director now.” She shrugged. She knew what Jemma is trying to say but she wasn’t going to make it easier for her. Skye actually regretted that she told her about her plans.

“You know what I mean!” Simmons frowned.

She raised her eyebrows. “Of course I know what you mean but I don’t talk about it with you anymore,” she said and unfastened her seatbelt. “Now we’re going to meet somebody as I need your support.”

“My support? For what?” the biochemist asked and get off the car.

“With this mission. I’m going to introduce you Elaine.”

***

“You know I think you should take your own advice,” said Fitz as he watched the specialist with the little girl in his arms. They didn’t speak since the girls left thirty minutes ago. They pretended they were watching football match in TV but neither of them really knew what was going on on the football pitch.

Ward smiled at the baby. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said but his voice wasn’t even a tiny bit convincing.

The engineer gave him a look. “Yeah, I might believe you if I don’t know you but I do know you so,” he shrugged as he left the sentence unfinished.

Grant pressed his lips together tightly. “Drop it, Fitz!”

He chuckled. “You don’t scare me anymore.”

“Fitz,” he warned.

The younger man just rolled his eyes. He couldn’t believe that the ops specialist – his friend – was trying to scare him off with the same things as more than a year ago. “You can’t deny you’ve got feelings for both of them. You might think Skye don’t realize that and you might be right but I know for sure Jemma saw what I saw and she’s going to tell Skye. I know she won’t believe her as you don’t believe me but in the end you both will have to admit your feelings. Otherwise she will just walk away with Lilly and you won’t see them ever again. Believe me you will regret it! It might take me years to admit what I feel to Jemma and I had to face the death but I told her and only thanks to you. Trust me when I’m saying I’m happy right now. You shouldn’t deny that to yourself.”

Ward listened very carefully to everything his friend said. He had to say Fitz’s got a point. He knew he should tell Skye but he was afraid. He was afraid he was going to lose her then anyway. Even now he was losing her because he didn’t talk to her. “I know you’re right but I’m not going to tell her.”

“Why not?”

He sighed and gently touched baby’s fist. “Because she deserves better. They both do.”

“You’re stubborn and you are going to regret it!” warned Fitz. When Ward didn’t answer the engineer just shook his head and changed the subject. “Could I hold Lilly for a minute?” he tried his luck.

“Not a chance,” he blurted.

The younger man chuckled. “Why?”

Grant glanced at him. “Do you even know how to hold a baby?” he asked and the tone of his voice clearly indicated that he had doubts about it.

“Of course I know how to hold her. It wouldn’t be the first time. Skye let me to hold her that day she came with her on the Bus. After your training.” He shrugged.

Grant made a face. He didn’t like the idea of everybody holding Lilly before him. He knew it was his fault but it didn’t mean he was going to bear it easily.


	5. Chapter 5

Skye and Jemma spent the whole afternoon with Elaine at the mall. And it was a quite interesting afternoon.

Skye found out that they had much more in common than she would ever guess. Elaine’s husband Jonah was practically older version of Grant.

Jemma was amazed by Elaine’s knowledge of biochemistry; Elaine admitted that she wanted to be a biochemist but then she met Jonah and got pregnant so she gave up her dream and became a mum. Jonah didn’t want her to work and Elaine loved him so she complied with his wish.

In the evening both of the agents were sure Elaine wouldn’t be able to kill anybody and they had to convince Fitz and Ward about it; and then the rest of the team eventually. They both realized it wasn’t going to be easy. Well, Jemma might convince Fitz in a few hours but there was no way Skye would convince Ward. He told her his opinion and he wouldn’t change it easily.

***

The specialist and the engineer decided to take Lilly for a walk. Fitz was really excited about it; he couldn’t wait to see the neighbourhood. He missed his home and this was close enough to it. He had to admit he would enjoy it even more if Jemma was around but he wasn’t that lucky – at least for now.

“Why don’t we go to the playground?” asked Fitz when they passed the playground.

Ward played dumb. “Where’s the playground?” he looked on the opposite site so he couldn’t actually see the playground occupied by a dozen of children and their parents.

Scot frowned. “You know I would expect a better reaction from you. You know exactly where it is. What is going on, Ward?”

Grant sighed. “I went here with Skye and Lilly and it didn’t go well.” He squirmed. Even after weeks he didn’t feel very good about it. He thought he made it up for Skye but now he wasn’t so sure. He was a jerk and he knew it. But he couldn’t help himself.

“What have you done?” asked the younger man.

“Why do you assume I’ve done something?” He tried to sound confident.

Fitz gave him a meaningful look.

Ward made a face. “I might behave as an asshole,” he conceded, avoiding his friend’s eyes. To his surprise the engineer started to laugh. “What is so funny?” he asked, annoyance in his voice. Sometimes he found it very hard to understand him.

“It’s nothing,” he assured when he stopped laughing. “You just looked like if somebody tortured you when you said you were an asshole. Believe me you looked quite funny. Well, at least for somebody who knows you.”

“Well, I’m going to torture _you_ if you will ever mention this to Skye!” warned Grant and leaned down as Lilly started to cry and gave her a dummy.

“Oh, come on. She would enjoy it!”

Ward looked at him, his eyes narrowed. “She’s got a bad influence on you. Right now you sound exactly like her. Were you practising that?” he asked, sarcastically.

Fitz grimaced. “Shall we go to that playground now? You should become friends with parents of two years old child so there’s a high possibility that they are going to be there.”

“Just like Skye,” muttered Ward and sighed. “Fine. Come to the playground even when Lilly is too little to go there.”

The engineer just waved his hand and he went excitedly to the area mostly occupied by kids.

Ward followed him with a not very happy expression and it didn’t help when a few kids ran to them and started to climb on the pushchair because they wanted to have a look at a baby inside. He had to clench his teeth to not shout at them. He even smiled but it was quite a tense smile.

“Daddy, daddy!” the little boy screamed and ran to the guy who was standing aside. “That’s that little girl I met with mummy the other day in the shop! Her mummy helped me when I fell. She was really nice!” little boy explained enthusiastically. “Can we see her? Please, please, please, please, please!”

The guy squatted down so he could talk to his son.

Fitz and Ward couldn’t hear what he was saying to the boy but they exchanged a look as they realized who they were. In the moment when Jonah stood up and walked with Neal in their direction Ward was in his specialist’s mood. He was prepared to take him down within seconds. He considered him as a threat and he couldn’t help himself. He didn’t know him and he didn’t trust him. He didn’t actually think Jonah would try to do anything while he was on a playground with his two years old son but it was his duty to be prepared for everything.

“Um, I’m sorry,” started Jonah when he was close enough for them to hear him, “but it looks like my son saw your wife and daughter in the shop and he would love to look at your girl. Lilly? Is that her name?” He wasn’t confident with the fact that he had to talk to two complete strangers but he loved his son and wanted him to be happy.

Ward was tempted to lie. He wanted to tell him that he had the wrong guy, turn around and just disappear but Fitz stood on his foot (Ward had to admit that he was strong for somebody as small as him). Grant frowned at his friend and allowed Neal to have a look in the pushchair.

“Oh, daddy, she’s so cute! Can we have a baby too?” he turned to his father.

Jonah looked at Ward and Fitz, unease written in his face. “Uh, Neal,” he started as he looked back at his son, “it’s not that easy, you know?”

“Why?”

“Because,” he sighed, he didn’t like the conversation, “I would have to talk to mummy and then it would take almost a year before we even have a baby and it’s just complicated.”

“But we could have it, right?”

The desperation took its place in Jonah’s expression when he looked up and he pleaded for help with his eyes. But the only answers were that Fitz shook his head and Ward shrugged. “We could but-“

Neal interrupted his father. “Can we tell mummy that we want a baby then?”

“I think we should _ask_ mummy if _she_ wants a baby,” he suggested because he couldn’t deny him anything and he knew Elaine was the same so they were probably going to have quite a tough time soon. But it was ok because they would talk to him in the privacy of their house and not in front of strangers in the middle of a playground.

The little boy frowned a little as he thought about it and then his face lit up. “Ok. I will ask mummy then,” he consented.

Jonah was relieved.

Ward smiled when he saw older man’s expression and one part of him was glad he wouldn’t have to go through the same thing as there would be nobody who would ask him similar questions. The other part – a lot bigger one – wanted to scream and never let Lilly go. He knew that the plane wasn’t a good place to raise a baby and his job was dangerous and he didn’t have many opportunities to find a wife and there were too many reasons not to have a baby but the thought of letting Lilly go was just painful.

***

Fitz and Ward were already home when Jemma and Skye returned, hands full of shopping bags. They entered the living room where the guys sat on the sofa with Lilly lying between them. The TV was on but neither of them was watching it. They were watching the little girl; she had them wrapped around her little finger.

“Hi,” Jemma and Skye greeted, laughing. They put their bags on the side.

Jemma walked to the sofa, leaned down and kissed Fitz. “How was your day?” she asked him with a warm smile.

“It was great but the evening seems to be even better,” he winked at her.

Jemma blushed and kissed him one more time.

“How was your afternoon?” asked Ward, icily, eyeing Skye.

Skye raised the eyebrows at his tone. “It was amazing,” she reassured him. Then she walked to the sofa and picked the baby up. Lilly smiled at her and Skye saw Claire in that smile. “What did you do today?” she asked her even when she knew she wouldn’t answer.

But Skye got her answer from her husband. “We went to the playground. Want to guess who was there?” he asked, provocatively.

The hacker knew something’s wrong the moment she stepped into the room and she could imagine what it was but she played a fool because that way she could at least try not to argue with him. She smiled at him, sweetly. “Not really. Why don’t you tell me?”

Grant stood up, his eyes narrowed. “Jonah and Neal.” He was very surprised when Jonah told him Elaine went to the very same mall as Skye. He thought it was just a coincidence. But then Neal added that his mummy went to meet Lilly’s mummy. In that moment Fitz had to do his best to calm his friend down because Ward was ready to go to the mall and drag Skye out of it.

Skye gulped. Her worst fears came true.

“Who was with you at the mall?” he wanted to know.

She handed Lilly over to Jemma who watched them curiously as well as Fitz did. She took a deep breath. “Why don’t we just skip the part where you pretend that you don’t know that already and just tell me what you want to tell me.”

He did a few steps towards her so he stood only a few inches from her. “You went there and you knew you would see her and yet you didn’t tell me! I told you not to be friend with her! She is a part of your mission; a very important part of it!” If the stare could kill Skye would be already dead.

She wanted to be quite but she just couldn’t. He wasn’t fair and she couldn’t stand it. She put her hands on her hips. “She is my mission?” The disbelief was noticeable in the tone of her voice. “Are you kidding me? She is a human! She is not some stupid thing! I can’t and I _won’t_ think about her like about a mission so don’t you dare to say it in front of me ever again!”

Grant leaned closer to her, his voice dangerously quite. “You need to accept the fact that she _is_ your mission along with her family. She is your mission as well as you were mine when I joined Coulson’s team.”

She turned pale and she could feel tears in the back of her eyes. “That’s how you see me? As your _mission_?” she asked, hurt.

Ward sighed and straightened. “I...I didn’t mea-“

Skye interrupted him. “You didn’t mean it? Yes, you did. We all know that. I know I’m not important to you but don’t worry you won’t have to be around me much longer.”

He was confused. “What do you mean?”

She shrugged. “I’m going to give up my job after this mission is over. I will find a nice cosy house and raise Lilly. Because I realized I couldn’t live without her. She is everything what’s left after Claire and I won’t let anybody else to raise her.” She turned on her heels, took the little girl from her best friend’s arms and left the room.

Ward stood there and stared at the door in which she disappeared. He was speechless and couldn’t quite believe what just happened.

***

Skye sat in the rocking chair in Lilly’s bedroom and cuddled the little girl. She couldn’t stop thinking about everything that Grant told her back in the living room. She blinked to resist the urge of crying. She never cried over some guy and she surely wasn’t going to start now. She heard a knock on the door.

“Come in,” said Skye with a sigh. She hoped it wouldn’t be Ward because she couldn’t face him at this very moment.

“Do you want to talk?” asked Jemma when she closed the door behind her.

Skye shrugged. “There isn’t much to talk about, is there? He seems me as his mission. End of story.”

The biochemist touched gently her shoulder. “He didn’t mean to say it.”

The hacker shook her head. “He _did_ mean it, Jemma. How can you say he didn’t? You were there. You saw him. You heard him.” She took a deep breath. “It hurts, you know? I thought we’ve got...something. I guess I was wrong all that time.”

“I don’t think so,” objected Jemma. “He cares about you, Skye. He _loves_ you.”

“Really?” she didn’t sound convinced.

The British smiled. “Don’t you see how he is looking at you? How protective he is? It means something!”

The younger woman laughed shortly. “I wish it was that way.” She sighed. “Please, don’t try to convince me, ok? I’m a big girl I don’t need false hopes. And believe me when I’m saying I’m not going to feel bad about what he said. Everything will be over soon and then I won’t see him ever again.”

Jemma wanted to argue with Skye but she didn’t at the end. She saw tears in her friend’s eyes. She heard the pain in her voice. Yet she wasn’t going to point that out because it wouldn’t do any good. Skye had to admit her feelings in her own time and Jemma hoped it wouldn’t be late for neither of them.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it took me really long time to write this chapter and I'm sorry about that but life happened *shrug*

_Grant kissed Skye._

It started innocently.

It was Sunday afternoon (not even twenty four hours after Grant’s “mission” talk) and Lilly couldn’t fall asleep no matter who carried her around, so Skye decided to go for a walk with her. She was just about to leave when the beeping noise let her know that the dishwasher finished, so she asked Ward to empty it and then left the house.

Of course Ward had more important things on his mind than some dishwasher. He needed to figure out what was going on with his rookie and he was lucky that both of their friends stayed with him. They talked about her, about the decision she made, about Lilly, about Ward’s feelings (yes, he had feelings for her he didn’t admit to her yet and he started to realize it might be a mistake) and they tried to find the way to fix it. He knew he couldn’t just tell her because she wouldn’t believe him.

Unfortunately, even his madly-in-love friends didn’t know how to help him. They really wanted to but it was quite difficult to think about anything when Ward swept everything aside. They thought about it over and over again but when Skye came home almost two hours later Grant still didn’t have a clue what to do.

Grant watched Skye leave the pushchair in the hall and walk to the kitchen. “Hi,” she said, smiled at FitzSimmons and didn’t even look at him. She was upset, he got it. He lost it yesterday, he was aware of it but he just tried to protect her.

“Did you have a nice time?” asked Jemma as Skye walked to grab some water.

She smiled. “Yeah, it was great. I met Elaine.” She stuck out her chin and looked straight at Grant, provocatively.

He sighed. She was trying his patience.

“What about you? Did you enjoy yourselves?” She wanted to put the glass to the dishwasher when she realized it was full. She pressed her lips together and straightened. Then she started to empty the dishwasher.

“I will do it, Skye.” Ward stood up and walked to her.

“You don’t have to,” she assured him and put the plates in their place.

“Skye,” he started but she didn’t respond. “Skye!” His voice was firm this time.

She put the cup on the top of the kitchen unit, clenched her fists and turned around. “What, Ward, what?” She was angry.

He reminded himself to stay calm. He was the reason of her anger and he didn’t mean to upset her any more.

“I asked you to do one thing, only one thing and you weren’t able to do it! I spent almost two hours walking around with a crying baby, my head is pounding in pain and,” she waved her hand, shook her head and sighed, “whatever.”

“Skye, I -,” he started again.

She lifted up her hand to stop him. “Tell me something. What did you do that you forgot? It’s not like you.”

He didn’t want to lie to her because he said more lies than he could count. But he couldn’t tell her the truth either. So he shrugged. “I’m just a human, Skye. I forgot. We talked and I didn’t even think about the dishwasher.”

“Yeah, I can see that you didn’t think about it.”

Skye made a face and he wanted to say something to his offence but he couldn’t think of anything so he did the only thing he could think of. He tilted, pulled her closer and kissed her. He thought it was a great idea how to let her forget her anger. She was taken aback but she didn’t fight him. Actually, she kissed him back. He wasn’t able to think anymore. Everything was blank and there was no one else than Skye in that very moment.

Unfortunately for Grant, Skye seemed to realize what was just happening after a while and stepped away. She touched her lips in disbelief; the terrified look in her eyes. She took a deep breath, opened her mouth and closed it again. She obviously didn’t know what to say, so she just shook her head and ran away.

Ward turned in the direction where FitzSimmons were while he talked to Skye, only there was no sign of either of them. He went to the hall as he needed to see somebody who wouldn’t judge him and the only one in this house was Lilly. To his surprise the little girl wasn’t in the pushchair. He made a face. Surely, FitzSimmons took her to their room.

He sighed and decided to go to the gym. He had a talk to make.

***

Skye had been punching the punching bag for little over ten minutes. It seemed like the only thing that could calm her down. She hoped she wouldn’t think about that kiss back in the kitchen but she was wrong. She thought about it over and over and it made her even angrier. She wanted to forget that because it raised a memory of another kiss.

She stopped punching the bag because it just didn’t help. She cursed, loudly.

“That was one juicy curse,” a surprised voice from behind her said.

Skye closed her eyes for a second as she hoped it was just her imagination playing with her and he wouldn’t be there when she turned. But he was there and she realized he was sexy and handsome and she wanted to kiss him again. The kiss wasn’t the only thing she wanted from him; she wanted more, much more. She shook her head to chase away those thoughts. “What are you doing here?” she asked.

Grant came two steps closer. “We need to talk.”

Skye put her hand up when he took another few steps as if she could stop him by that. “I don’t want to talk. I want to be alone.”

“No, you don’t. I can see it,” whispered Grant and came even closer. He stood only inches away now.

She could touch him if she wanted to. But instead she took a step back even when she knew there wasn’t much point in it because she had nowhere to escape. “Please, leave me alone,” she pleaded.

He shook his head. “I’m not leaving this room until we talk,” he assured her.

Skye sighed. “Grant, please.”

Ward smiled. She didn’t call him by his surname and it was always a good sign when it came to her. “You want this, Skye. You want this as much as I do. Why don’t you admit it?”

She knew this wasn’t going to end well. It wasn’t going to end with a talk either. She took a breath, shakily. “I...I can’t.”

“Why not, Skye?” he asked, quietly.

“Because talking isn’t what you want,” she paused, shook her head and added, “and me neither.”

Grant’s face lit up. He put his hands on her hips and pulled her closer. “I’m glad you said that,” he assured her and kissed her.

She didn’t resist because she liked kissing him and there wasn’t any rational reason not to do it. They were both single, they were on an undercover mission and they both were alone for far too long.

When Grant let go of her lips, Skye started to think clearly. So when he bent down again, she turned away. She could hear his gasp.

“Skye?” he mumbled, surprised.

She shook her head. “We can’t do this.”

He groaned. “Why?”

Skye frowned. Didn’t he get it? It wasn’t right. It wouldn’t last long. And Skye wanted a long-term relationship, she wanted it badly but he couldn’t give that to her even if he wanted to. She took a deep breath when there was a discreet sound of clearing the throat from behind Ward.

“What?” snapped Grant and turned around.

Fitz was standing in the door, holding up his phone. “Agent Coulson wants to talk to you.”

He looked at her, than on the phone and her again. He was clearly torn. Skye just pressed her lips together and nodded to the phone because it was the right thing to do.

Grant sighed, shook his head and headed to Fitz. Once he had the phone he went upstairs and Skye finally let her breath out. She opened her eyes wide and ran her hand through her hair. She wasn’t really sure how she felt. She was glad that they were disturbed but a tiny part of her wanted Ward to continue. She wanted him to seduce her. She wanted him in any way he was able to give himself to her.

“Damn it!” she cursed and ignored the fact that Fitz had been staring at her.

***

Skye needed time to think about everything that happened in the last few hours. But unfortunately for her the time was the only thing they didn’t have. When she came to the living room in which Ward, FitzSimmons and Lilly have been, Grant told her they would have to go to the Bus the next morning. Skye knew that it could mean the end of their mission and suddenly she didn’t want it to end. She realized she enjoyed being alone with him and Lilly. She would never admit it out loud but she even loved their arguments.

And because this afternoon could be the last one in this lovely house with an amazing neighbourhood, she took Lilly for another walk. She needed to think so she took the opportunity and went to the playground one more time. She secretly hoped Elaine would be there. Skye knew it would be nice to talk to the older woman. They spent only a little time together but she already considered Elaine a friend.

As Skye sat on the bench on the playground and watched the kids she sighed. She touched Lilly’s cheek with her finger. “Well, Lilly, I think I found a perfect place to live.” Skye honestly hoped that she would be able to give the little girl that sort of home she deserved. She wasn’t naive; she knew she couldn’t afford a house in this part of London. Not just yet anyway. But she hoped that one day she would take Lilly here and at least showed her around.

She sat there for another few minutes before standing up with a sigh and walking back to the house.

***

That evening Lilly wouldn’t stop crying – she probably picked up the tension between the adults -, she didn’t want to sleep or be left alone so Skye stayed with the little girl in the nursery for the night. Ward didn’t like it but Skye didn’t give him a chance to discuss it, she’d just done it.

Grant lied on his back in the bed too big for one and listened to the silence. There were times when he loved to sit or lie in a silent room and read a book or just think but since Skye came into his life, the silence made him worry. He needed to hear her voice, anybody’s voice, actually.

When he heard something a few minutes later, he wasn’t sure if it wasn’t just his imagination. So he listened carefully and heard it again. The whimpering noise he heard once before.

_It happened only a couple of days after Skye had recovered from Quinn’s shot. It was well past midnight, everybody was fast asleep and in the silence of the night Skye started to sob in her sleep. Ward waited for whole two minutes before getting up and running to Skye’s bunk. She tossed from side to side, her hair wet, her face twisted with pain. Grant woke her up gently and then held her tight, whispering reassuring words to her ear until she fell asleep again. It didn’t happen again afterwards but he didn’t forget – he_ couldn’t _forget._

So when he heard it now, he got up and ran into Lilly’s bedroom.

In the fading light from the hallway he saw that Skye had been curled up in the corner on the sofa for two next to Lilly’s crib. She was crying in her sleep and pleadingly asking for something – or somebody – to stop, to leave her alone.

Ward covered the space between him and the sofa quickly and sat down. He looked at Lilly who slept peacefully and was grateful for that. Then he put his hand on her shoulder, whispering her name to wake her up.

She woke up almost immediately, her eyes wide open, her body shaking and just then the tears started to fall down on her cheeks.

He embraced her. “Shh, it’s ok. You’re safe. It was only a bad dream. You’re safe now.”

Skye rested her head on his chest, sobbing quietly. “I’m sorry,” she said when she looked up at him after a couple of minutes when she calmed herself down.

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault.” Grant stroked her back and kissed her on the top of her head.

Lilly made a sound and they both looked at her. She stirred but she was still sleeping.

“Can I...um...can I sleep with you tonight?” asked Skye.

Ward smiled. “Of course,” he assured her. He stood up and held his hand out for her. She took it and her grip was tight as if she was afraid he would let go but he didn’t plan on letting her go ever again.


End file.
